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Batting blues hit again as
Highgate cruise to six wicket victory
Twickenham 138 all out
(Pete Carey 47, Ryan Combrinck 25, Andy Browns 5-47, Dave Benton
5-51)
Highgate
139-4 (Justin Lampard 72no)
Twickenham’s batting blues struck again at the Green on Saturday as
4th placed Highgate swept passed Jon Varney’s men to
register a convincing victory. A good start by Pete Carey, J-P
Cronje and Warwick Paull with the bat was quickly wasted as the
middle order imploded and the Ts were dismissed for 138. Although
Highgate lost the dangerous Jake Sharland early doors in a farcical
run out, New Zealander Justin Lampard (72no) held his nerve to see
Dave Benton’s men safely home.
For once,
losing the toss was not something Jon Varney was unduly worried
about. Sure, the Twickenham skipper would no doubt have bowled
first (given the rules in the Middlesex County League, it’s the most
obvious choice – including Saturday 5th August, third
division skippers have inserted the opposition a massive 87.7 per
cent of the time in 2007), but the sky was blue, the temperature
warm and it looked to all intents and purposes like it was going to
be a batting day. So, why not bat for a long time in the hope that
plenty of runs could be scored.
The plan
itself was sound enough, executing it was not so straightforward.
Not that that was evident after 10 overs, with Twickenham on 56-1.
J-P Cronje had departed to a smart Vanderpum catch to give medium
pacer Andy Browne his first wicket of the day, but the classy pair
of Pete Carey – the division’s leading run-scorer – and Warwick
Paull were nonetheless progressing nicely. Carey’s dismissal,
caught behind for 47, signalled a pivotal moment in the game; strong
though the Twickenham batting is, Carey’s consistent performances at
the top of the order have been the backbone of most of the Ts’ big
totals this year. His departure saw the odd nerve twitch in the
pavilion.
83-2
quickly became 87-3 as Carlos Nunes became Browne’s third victim,
Dave Benton taking the catch in the gulley. It then became 91-4 as
the Highgate skipper, bowling very tidy leg spin from the Hampton
Road End, removed the dangerous Warwick Paull, nicely caught and
bowled. Benton was causing all of the Ts batters problems as he
generated plenty of spin off the dry surface. He varied his pace as
well as his deliveries (the googly being particularly well
disguised), and his excellent spell was to ensure that Highgate
managed to paper over the not inconsiderable gap that Sayed Karrer,
the MCCL Division 3’s leading wicket-taker, absence threatened to
leave.
The
wickets continued to fall; Browne removed Al Storey for 4 before
Benton had the luckless Mark Ryan caught behind for 0. By the time
that Dimitri Nicolaides had perished the Ts were 99-7 and in
complete disarray. Faced with the carnage around them, Dan Hough
and Damon Combrinck set about trying to restore some order to
proceedings. Both batters took their time, battling through to
drinks, as the Ts attempted – at the very least – to bat out as many
over as possible. But, as Benton twirled another loop leggy up,
Combrinck couldn’t resist driving, succumbing to a catch in the deep
for 6. His brother, Ryan, replaced him and he adopted a different
approach; he decided to remain true to his instincts and give it a
whack. It was not a bad idea; sooner or later he was going to get a
good ball, and it made sense to try and accumulate as many runs as
he could before then. He rode his luck, but decided that he’d
either live by the sword or die by it. Hough, meanwhile, was
setting out on a war of attrition, blocking anything and everything
with a dead bat. This chalk and cheese combination served the Ts
well for 10 overs, Combrinck launching Benton over the trees and on
to the Hampton Road for a big six as well as clipping him nicely
through square leg for a couple of boundaries. But, the fun
couldn’t last, and the big South African eventually succumbed,
Benton getting his man for a breezy 25.
Last man
Jon Varney again, for the second week running, found himself out in
the middle far too early for his own liking. Twickenham’s last pair
nonetheless showed a fair amount of sticking power, battling for 8
overs as Hough tried to his best to work the ball around. The
innings eventually came to a close in the 52 over when Hough finally
received a long hop from the by now near-exhausted Browne only to
hit it straight back to the bowler. Brown (5-47 off 25.2) and
Benton (5-51 off 19) had done a sterling job for their side, but,
again, the Ts players knew that 138 simply wasn’t acceptable on a
slow, but certainly not unplayable, wicket.
The tea,
including some lovely scones with jam and a nice array of savouries,
was, as ever, a delight to behold (as well as to eat!). A on the
tea-meter, no further discussion needed. The Ts knew that if they
were going to have any chance of getting back into the game then
they’d have to take early wickets. Given that Highgate had bowled
better as the ball got older, skipper Varney opted to take a risk
and use the old ball; off-spinner Cronje opened from the Staines
Road End and the metronomic Warwick Paull came in from the Hampton
Road End. And the Ts struck more or less immediately when the
consistent Jake Sharland got into a horrible mix-up with fellow
opener Chris Wilson, and was well run out by Al Storey fielding at
backward square leg. The drama was further heightened when it
transpired that in all the excitement Varney had pulled a calf
muscle and was forced into doing impressions of John Cleese’s
Ministry of Silly Walks. Varney, to his credit, tried to soldier
on, but to no avail; he had to leave the field and the gloves were
handed over to the more than competent Carlos Nunes.
The
pressure was now on – and the Highgate batters dealt with it
admirably. Wilson looked compact, while overseas player Justin
Lampard had an air of class about him. Wilson was initially the
more aggressive, but it was Lampard who began to move through the
gears, pulling both Paull and Cronje powerfully in front of square
for boundaries. Makeshift skipper Cronje realised that, with the
score having passed 50, Twickenham desperately needed another
breakthrough; so, he threw the ball to Pete Carey to see if the Kiwi
could somehow work some magic. And that he did – dismissing Wilson
leg before (having had a big shout for caught behind turned down the
previous ball) for 27.
Cronje
realised that the Ts probably had one roll of the dice left and so
he went on the attack; to no avail. Lampard began to cruise nicely
and although he was dropped in the covers just after he’d gone past
50, he never really looked in any serious trouble. The departures
of Clarke (bowled by the lively Nicolaides, who had come on to
replace Carey, for 12) and then Denning (caught and bowled by the
admirably consistent Cronje for 14) couldn’t change the fact that
for as long as Lampard was there, Highgate were going to win. And,
with 9 overs to spare, Fletcher hit the winning runs to see the
North Londoners home.
The
Herculean efforts of J-P Cronje (1-46 off 20) with the ball weren’t
enough to save Twickenham from a second defeat on the bounce.
Abject batting left the bowlers with far too much to do, and if the
Ts are going to continue to challenge for the divisional
championship then they need to wake from their mid-season slumber
pretty quickly. Next time at Kenton wouldn’t be a bad time to start
…
By Dan
Hough |
